There's no rest for the wicked, or singer Tami Neilson apparently as she works on a new album and prepares for her performance at Blues On Broadbeach (Gold Coast) in May.
It's a quick turnaround for Tami, who only released her most recent album 'Sassafrass!' in June of last year. “I've been really thrilled with the way it's connected with people, women in particular,” Tami says of the response to 'Sassafrass!'.
“I've been getting emails saying that it is so encouraging for women to see a working mum pressing through and saying the things that are really important to me on that album, and just continuing that fight for equality of the sexes but in a really fun and disarming way.”
Boasting a chic retro style and a powerhouse set of vocal cords, Tami uses her talent to promote the roles of women in music, particularly her domain of country music where women are still put at a disadvantage.
If any proof was needed to back up how hard it is for women in country music, not a single woman was nominated for Entertainer Of The Year in the Academy Of Country Music (ACM) Awards this year. “It was disappointing, but sadly not a surprise,” Tami says.
“In the past month, for the first time in the history of the Billboard charts we have seen no women in the top 20 on one of the charts.
“Just when we seem we're making progress and we're getting past all of that, there's a real push back within the old guard – the gatekeepers of that old-school way of thinking in country radio. The fact there has not been a number one by a female in a year on the charts is just appalling and can be so discouraging.”
It's a deliberate move against women in country music that comes from the top. “It actually is, it's been talked about quite a bit,” Tami says.
“The radio consultant Keith Hill, he consults for all the radio programmers across North America – that is a very powerful man – and he was quoted as saying if you want a successful country music radio station, you need to take the women out and especially don't play them back to back.”
As Keith so eloquently phrased it: “Men are the lettuce in our salad, and woman are tomatoes.”
“Since that directive, it has gotten worse and worse for women in country music radio,” Tami says.
In the past several years, female artists have accounted for barely ten per cent of content played on country music stations per annum in the US.
Nevertheless and despite the fierce opposition, Tami continues to be a driving force for women in country music and will be in full swing when she hits the stage at Blues On Broadbeach for the very first time, hopefully with some new music. “I've heard such wonderful things about the festival and that it's such a fun time,” she says.
“I haven't been to the Gold Coast for a few years now, so I'm really looking forward to it and seeing my Gold Coast fans who I get messages from asking when I'm coming back. I might have to test out new songs on you Aussies; you can be my guinea pigs.”
